To Be A Hero
by EmeraldTulip
Summary: 'He wrenched his hand from hers as the terrifying, haunting scene repeated itself in his head, over and over. "I can't do this!" Because he didn't want to hurt anyone else ever again. He was a ticking time bomb and any second, he would go off and hurt the people he loved.' One-shot.


**Title:** _"To Be A Hero"_

 **Rating:** K+ (again, much less dark than some of my other works)

 **Genre:** Friendship, drama, family, adventure, angst

 **Characters:** Leo, Taylor, a little bit of Logan, mentions of the bionic trio

 **Pairing(s):** None, strong Leo/Taylor friendship (I guess if you _really_ want to it can be read as romance, but it isn't intended to be like that)

 **Summary:** 'He wrenched his hand from hers as the terrifying, haunting scene repeated itself in his head, over and over. "I can't do this!" Because he didn't want to hurt anyone else ever again. He was a ticking time bomb and any second, he would go off and hurt the people he loved.' One-shot.

 **Warnings:** None

 **Notes:** Yes, yet another one-shot. It's not that two-shot I said I might post, but I'll probably post that later this week.

So anyway, I was re-watching On The Edge and this popped into my head. It is Leo centric because Leo is awesome, and lets face it; he was epic in Part 2! I find it incredible that I stretched this one small conversation into this long thing, but anyway…

Oh, and thanks to Dirtkid123, AlienGhostWizard14, Asori, and PurpleNicole531 for reviewing _In the Dark_! You guys rock! (Oh, and Asori—I'm working on the humor, but it could take a while XD)

Read, review, all that stuff! :D Onward!

* * *

He watched as the laser spheres circled his and Taylor's interlocked hands, building energy. He heard a small gasp of air escape her, and he glanced up just in time to see her grit her teeth, brows furrowing behind her new glasses.

And then suddenly, he didn't see her summoning energy; or the bridge swaying; or Logan watching; or the limo tipping; not anymore. He only could only see Taylor screaming as the energy overwhelmed her, falling to the floor. _His fault_.

How was he supposed to rescue his family? According to Chase (who obviously was almost always right), their chances were so small. And him being there would only mess it up worse.

He could still feel the energy building in his and Taylor's hands, picking up speed as it continued to circle.

Still, that scene continued to play in his mind, and sudden ice-cold _terror_ , _fear_ , _panic_ , clenched around his heart, freezing his mind. _No. Can't. Won't. I… no!_

He wrenched his hand from hers as the terrifying, haunting scene repeated itself in his head, over and over.

"I can't do this!"

Because he didn't want to hurt anyone else ever again. He was a ticking time bomb and any second, he would go off and hurt the people he loved.

"What if I hurt you?"

He only destroyed, even before he was bionic but even more so now, how was it that he would be able to save them when he never could save things or _people_ , and he wouldn't be able to handle it if any one of them died, whether it be goofy Adam, caring Bree, brainy Chase, egotistical Mr. Davenport, destructive Douglas, oblivious Logan, loyal Taylor, or anyone else, he just wouldn't be able to handle any of it.

"I don't want to ruin anyone else's life!"

And possibly the worst would be to hurt Taylor ( _again_ ) because she had suffered through so much, been controlled her whole life, and then when she finally had her freedom he'd snatched it away from her along with her eyesight and independence because he was simply so _jealous_ and _petty_ and just _wanted attention_. He messed up, and she'd payed the price.

How could she be so loyal to him when he'd done everything to wrong her, how did she forgive so easily? It was all because of him that she would never see again, she wouldn't be able to do normal things like he'd hoped she would, they all would, and it was _all his fault_ and—

"Leo!" she snapped, looking up at him, somehow managing to pierce him with her gaze despite the glasses covering her now-blank eyes. "You didn't ruin my life!"

Somehow, impossibly, that did kind of make him feel better, so he focused on that while she kept talking.

It was hard, though. Because he was aware of the bridge swaying and creaking beneath their feet, he could hear the panicked gasps, the mutters, coming from the limo, could sense Logan tapping his foot impatiently behind them, looking at the car, then back. At the car, then back.

And he still couldn't get rid of the fear, the feeling that crept into his body and made him queasy, because he couldn't help but think that despite everything that Taylor was saying, he might somehow mess up _again_ , and someone would get hurt, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if that happened.

But then Taylor stopped talking and simply held out a hand, and Leo knew that in actuality, she was actually offering him a choice.

By taking her hand, he could be a leader, a hero, someone who knows they makes mistakes, lets them happen, learns from them. He could be a person who has fears but chooses to work past them. He could be a person who can not only forgive others, but forgive themselves.

Or, by walking away, he could be a unextraordinary kid who goes to a commonplace school and has typical friends and can be free to run from mistakes and can hide inside of the shell he's created over the years. He could go back to the life he'd gone back to in the past few weeks, the wondrously pleasant _normalcy_ of it. That's it, that's what he wanted, he really did. He could be _normal_ , he wanted to be. So desperately. He wanted it more than he'd ever wanted anything else in his life.

And as wonderful as that second option sounded, he couldn't bring himself to turn away from his family, friends, her.

"Okay."

And he took her hand.

* * *

 **So… how was that? I hope it was good (I mean, obviously XD), because I really liked this idea and wanted to do it justice.**

 **Remember: there is a poll on my profile about who one of my next stories should center, so go check that out!**

 **Again, I'll probably post that two-shot I mentioned before sometime later this week.**

 **So… review and stuff! Thanks for reading!**


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